This was first brought to my attention on Friday by a Green Blogger pointing out that the Green Party had used the Access to Information Act to reveal a secret Conservative government study that shows the economic costs of a carbon tax in Canada starting at 50$/ton are not only negligible to the economy in the first few years, but show a net positive for a carbon tax in raising Canada’s gross domestic product:

The report supports a carbon tax as an effective way to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and concludes that a $50/tonne tax on carbon would have an insignificant impact on the Canadian economy and would open tremendous economic opportunities. The model estimates this carbon tax shift would cut emissions by about 36 megatonnes (MT) by 2010, 59 MT by 2015 and 114 MT by 2030.. The report – Cost Curves for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction in Canada: The Kyoto Period and Beyond – concludes that the GDP impact of a $50/tonne tax shift is less than 0.1% of GDP per year until 2010, is virtually zero during the next five years and is then positive after 2015. Further, the report projects net financial savings to those who take action as a result of the tax shift, after taking into account the investment in emissions reductions. At $50 per tonne, that windfall comes to $13.8 billion by 2010 and climbs from there.

You can understand why Harper and the Cons would hide this report, and why it would take a Freedom Of Information Act request to reveal it. This story has gotten many, many bloggers discussing the secret report and the Conservatives hypocrisy in not releasing it.

It has even got Senator Elaine Mccoy, the independent Progressive Conservative Senator from Alberta, writing today about the deceit of the Conservative government in hiding this report from Canadians. She also calls this government report on the carbon tax “very credible”.

If I were a media person, I might ask Harper or Environment Minister John Baird (if they can find him – he seems to have disappeared since the election call) their reaction to this report. Obviously, they didn’t like the conclusions if they decided to try and hide it. I might also remind them that Baird and Jason Kenney are on record as refusing to release the details (about the cost to consumers) of their so-called environmental plan until after the election. I might be asking if that’s really acceptable to be hiding such crucial details from the public during an election campaign. If the Conservatives are going to fear-monger over the Green Shift, when their own government report says a carbon tax higher then what the Liberals are currently proposing isn’t going to hurt the economy and indeed will eventually raise Canada’s GDP, they need to be called out on it. Furthermore, the simple questions to ask them are:

Where are your environmental plan’s details?
What are your plan’s proposed costs?
Why are you trying to hide them or not release them until after the election?

Canadians and the media at large should demand that the Conservatives put out the details of their environmental plan of what types of costs to consumers will be incurred by them under the Conservative plan to cut emissions of GHG. It is only fair, so we can compare the plans and allow Canadians to make a choice based on facts and statistics, rather then letting the Conservatives continue to fear-monger by saying stuff like Harper claiming the Green Shift will harm national unity, or even more ridiculous stuff like Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant claiming that the Liberals under the Green Shift would ban or tax firewood.

David Akin has done a pretty good investigative piece on the KLR Vu Guelph poll that caused some interest and controversy a couple of days ago when it was released. I’ll note here as I did over there at David’s site that I did send an email to the polling firm asking them how many of the 3396 respondents they polled refused to answer or hung up. I’ve yet to receive an answer back from the firm.

Byte:

I was told by StageLeft that he had heard on Ottawa Radio CFRA this AM a Conservative-sympathetic host responding to Stephane Dion challenging Harper to state what his views on abortion […]

If I look at the various liveblogging that was done during the evening, it appears to have gone very well, with a crowd estimated between 1000 and perhaps 1200 at the event, and the bloggers were right there covering the event and giving good accounts of the goings-on. No apparent protests either, from the sounds of it, which some of the local Conservative rabble were threatening to do.

However, I would like to pass on a minor quibble to the Wingnuterer, which I already did at his one blogpost (or rather, at the blogpost that Impolitical did a guest blogging of) over his otherwise funny, amusing, informative blogposts:

Just as a followup to my last blogpost, look what Jeff Davidson of the blog “Where’d That Bug Go” found at Guelph Conservative candidate Gloria Kovach’s website. Take a look at the picture titled “Team Kovach”, and look who happens to be in that picture and part of Gloria’s team:

Why, it’s “average Guelph citizen” Barry Osmond! Do you still consider his website to be evidence of “grassroots opposition growing” to the Green Shift, Mr. Nicholls?

Gerry Nicholls, former VP of the National Citizens Coalition, and now columnist with the Sun chain of papers, has also got a blog up. His attention was caught yesterday by an anti-Green Shift blogsite run by a fellow by the name of Barry Osmond in Guelph, which Gerry hails at his blogsite in this manner: “Grassroots opposition to the Liberal Carbon Tax is growing as evidenced by this cool new site”

Apparently, Gerry doesn’t read blogs much, because if he had, he’d know the progressive blogosphere has shown that Gerry Osmond is anything but a “average Guelph citizen”; he’s a Conservative partisan, as the blog Skinny Dipper showed a few weeks ago. Maybe it’s just me, but having your name listed as one of the contacts to buy tickets for a Conservative Party fundraiser is rather darn good evidence of that, wouldn’t you say, Gerry? As Red Tory says at his site, this is nothing more then “Conservative Party partisans masquerading as average citizens”, and it appears Gerry either fell for this charade, without doing any investigation or reading up on Mr. Osmond, or he decided to spin this as “grassroots” opposition.

Grassroots Conservative opposition, yes, but hardly an uprising from the average Guelph citizen.

You know, at Gerry’s homepage, it makes the claim that Gerry is one of Canada’s “Top 5 political minds in the country”. It appears whoever made that claim is trying to be slightly facetious, but nevertheless, I’d say to qualify for that and make that claim true, Gerry needs to show he’s capable of more then being a partisan hack. Perhaps “Top 5 political hacks” in the country would be a more fitting description. At any rate, he certainly will fit in well as a “pundit” with the Sun chain.

A new button added to the button sidebar panel, and a new website for you to peruse. Hat tip to some of the Young Liberals of Canada for guest-starring in the introductory video, as well as creating the website and the button logo.

Very interesting both of these folks appear in Guelph on the same day. I’d be interested to hear who exactly it was that invited Ms. Wright down today to the Guelph riding; was it the CPC? The NDP? The Guelph Mercury?

I’ll also be very interested to see in her talk to the Mercury how much she injects herself into the political campaign in Guelph. I hope for the […]

That would be my advice to Fazil Mihlar, who is warning patriotic Canadians that The Liberals Green Shift will possibly lead to the breakup of this country if implemented, and to stop Dion and the Liberals at all cost! Show your patriotism by opposing the Green Shift! đź™„

Impolitical reports this guy is a Fraser Institute alumnus; I’m sure you’re all real shocked or surprised by that.

UPDATE: This screed that passes for a column is being written in a CanWest-owned newspaper. That shouldnt shock or surprise anyone either. Maybe Warren or Senator Grafstein need to buy more then just the National Post in order to clean house – how about the whole Canwest chain?

I thought I’d point out this article by David Graham who resides in Guelph and is also the Liblogs blogging aggregate coder. He was on hand in person to watch Stephane Dion’s appearance in Guelph yesterday, where he drew a very nice crowd and from what David says, a pretty good response. That would seem to be backed up by Steve V who also witnessed the event and came away suitably impressed by what he called “Dion’s authenticity”.

You might also note in David’s blog article the rather dismissive tone the local newspaper, the Guelph Mercury, did on Dion’s event, and which continues at their local blog, which is here. […]